The Four P's of Marketing Simplified for Beginners

Ever heard of any famous marketing concepts, especially ones that apply to situations of various industries? Let's get into more details with the Four P's of marketing.

First off, it would always be nice to introduce the origin of this concept:

The Four P's of marketing are the main elements of the "marketing mix", it was formulated by Neil Borden in 1953.

It has gotten the attention of a world-wide audience.

Why is this mix so popular? You tell me!

The Four 'P's

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Needless to say, you already know the meaning of the words, don't you? But for the sake of it, let me do a description of each:

- Product

A product is the protagonist behind all markets, it could be in physical form or digital form. Without the product, there isn't anything, or you could call it the base, without the base everything else is useless.

1. Brand Awareness

The popularity of your name or your company's name. You might need to do some extra promotion to reach out for a bigger audience, most importantly, to let others know you exist.

2. Quality

The content is king saying is exactly the same as product is king, you know the drill. Make sure you offer value in your content, not some random gibberish.

3. Warranty

Without giving much thought into the refunding policy, you're basically saying, if my product doesn't work for you, bad luck, I won't give you your money back. This is a major mistake.

4. Packaging

Look at Apple, packaging represents impression and brand image, it's like an introduction to a post, one of the most important aspects of a product.

5. Help and Support

This is like the best friend of the warranty factor, if you don't open up a free support section, you're going to lose plenty of smart decision-making customers.

- Price

The price is simply the cost of your product. You will have to plan the cost carefully and make it reasonable, along with your competition.

1. Strategy

Ever heard of the "less is more" concept? Whether you have, or not, it is always wise to study different marketing strategies and test them out individually. An example being prestige pricing.

2. Volume discounts

Did you know that most manufacturers offer a discount for purchasing things in bulk? Why? Simply because it's a good and promising deal! Rest assured, you might be able to apply this concept to your goods! (Not for digital products though)

3. Early payment discounts

Notice all product launching campaigns consist of a pre-launch stage? Or you could call it a teaser, make sure you provide a discount for people who order your products early.

4. Reason

Define the reason why your price is worth it, look at your competition, if you are far better than them, then feel safe to raise you price higher or else go with the flow and set your price in areasonable range.

5. Environment

Study your audience, your customers, are they the target of your price? Do you think they will buy your goods at this price? Research, track with demographics and conversion rates.

- Place (Distribution)

Which is where your product can be bought, it's about getting your product to the customer, for example: your house? On E-Junkie? On Amazon? Also referred as distribution channel.

1. Channels

This is probably the most important aspect of placing. Try to sell your product world-wide to allow a bigger audience, partner up with well-known sellers and shops both online and offline to maximize your sales.

2. Transportation

How are you going to deliver your product to your customer? How exactly is the good going to reach the buyer? Online users don't really have to give much thought into this, since online services are reliable in sending digital information.

3. Teamwork

Ignore this if you work on your own, but if you have a team, then it might require some extra power of words of motivation in order to get everyone working at their best.

4. Monitoring

Monitoring is basically the same idea as security on the internet, if you use a trustworthy well-known service for this section say: PayPal or E-junkie, don't worry about this.

5. Inventory

How many products have you currently got in stock? Since most online businesses sell digital products, it isn't an issue as digital goods can be copied and pasted with ease. Whereas, physical items may be worth having a couple made before orders are received depending on your industry.

- Promotion

Last but not least, our favorite bit, it's about increasing the chance of your customer's desire to buy something from you.

1. Strategy

There are plenty of marketing tactics in promotion. For speed and efficiency, don't hesitate to give paid advertising a shot to reach out for a wider audience.

2. Social Proof

Most of the elements in effective promotion tactics fall under this key, the more social proof there is, the more trust it creates between you and your customer, therefore more likely to purchase your product. It’s a must that you display testimonials! Other forms include: TV, news, Twitter followers, press releases or word of mouth.

3. Publicity

This has something got to do with the awareness of "you" in the public, say you’ve got Steve Jobs to sponsor your recently launched product, there's no doubt you would receive a huge purchasing spree right away.

4. Advertising

This remains to be the most used method for most companies, such as KFC and McDonald's. The point in advertising isn't solely for convincing people to buy your goods but to increase brand awareness, the old saying: "be everywhere"!

5. Incentives

You could host a giveaway or a loyalty program where members have to earn an amount of points before being able to redeem prizes. This increases loyalty and recurring interaction.

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